with the intent to....

Kavanah

Last week week in our discussions I mentioned the need for the “proper” kavanah before we could begin to davin - anywhere - and, since there was some confusion - or at lease some misunderstanding of the word, I thought we should discuss it a bit more. So here are some concepts on the word:

KaVaNah or, kah-vah-NAH (Intention or "direction of the heart") is the mindset necessary for Jewish ritual prayers, and mitzvot performed during Shavuot, Rosh Hashanah, other festivals and, in fact, at all times. Kavanah involves thinking about the words, and not merely reciting the sounds. This, as we discussed last week, is a problem in Judaism today, given that Biblical Hebrew is generally a liturgical language, rather than a common language - as many know the sounds, but not the meaning.

"Awareness of symbolic meaning is awareness of a specific idea; kavanah is awareness of an ineffable situation.” - Abraham Joshua Heschel

Some kavanot (the plural form) are used in Kabbalah, as a meditation, as well as in Hasidic Judaism.

As the Baal Shem Tov asks; "What are all kavanot compared to one heartfelt grief?” -

Eons before anybody ever heard of Marion Jones or

Payton Manning, Judaism recognized the importance

of mental focus.

In the case of Judaism, however, the stakes are weightier

than any gold medal.

Ever wonder how those Olympians performed their feats of athletic mastery?

For many of them, it's literally a case of mind over matter. Of course they need the physical prowess. But there's more to it than that. The winning edge, it turns out, is also the result of intense and intricate mental preparation.

As outlined in a story in Newsweek magazine, elite athletes everywhere spend countless hours training themselves to achieve success by actually visualizing it. Whether it's a professional golfer "seeing" the imaginary putt navigate a tricky green and then drop into the cup, or a pole vaulter "sprinting" down the virtual ramp and then clearing the bar at record-setting height, the best athletes are able to block out all distractions and mentally experience top performance -- and then translate that image into reality. In short, their success can be traced, in part, to their ability to focus on what is really important.

In Jewish parlance, you'd say they've developed great kavanah.

Kavanah -- which has been translated variously as focus, concentration, devotion and intention (and, even, “Meditation”) -- is the means by which we cultivate an intimate relationship with G-d in our lives in general and more specifically through the performance of His commandments and the heartfelt recitation of prayer.

Kavanah helps Jews establish their priorities. It helps us focus on what is really important.

Kavanah, in short, helps Jews establish their priorities. It helps us focus on what is really important -- in addition, of course, to the proper technique for heaving a javelin 100 yards.

What is important? The knowledge that G-d is out there and in here, that He is watching over us, and wants us to do His will.

There's a story that illustrates the importance of recognizing those essentials. It involves the Chofetz Chaim, a 19th and early 20th Century rabbi in Eastern Europe who was renowned for his scholarship, piety and modesty. He had a firm grasp of the essentials.

The Chofetz Chaim, it turns out, had hired a wagon driver to take him somewhere. While they were passing a farm, the driver abruptly stopped the wagon and climbed down in order to steal something from the farmer. He left the Chofetz Chaim in the wagon as a lookout. As the driver embarked on his illicit mission, the Chofetz Chaim called out: "He's looking!" The driver raced back to the wagon, spurred the horses to a vigorous gallop and made his getaway, the Chofetz Chaim in tow.

When they had gotten a safe distance away, the wagon driver turned to the Chofetz Chaim and asked, "Who was it that saw me?" The Chofetz Chaim gestured upwards and said, "He sees everything."

In public and in private; in groups and alone. Jews pray loudly and in silence; in Hebrew, English, and any other language you can name. Sometimes Jews even pray without language. Jews pray from the depth of their souls, at the tops of their lungs, and from the quiet of their hearts. It is difficult to point to a specific "Jewish" way of praying.

Talmud teaches that the minimal level of kavanah required is that "one who prays must direct one's heart towards heaven" (Berakhot, 31a). The next higher level of kavanah is to know and understand fully the meanings of the prayers. The level following that is to free one's mind of all extraneous and interfering thoughts. At the highest level, kavanah means to think about the deeper meaning of what one is saying and praying with extraordinary devotion. Should circumstances make it necessary for a person to choose between saying more prayers without kavanah or saying fewer prayers with kavanah, the fewer are preferred. (Shulkhan Arukh, Orah Hayim 1:4)

Tefilah: Prayer

The Hebrew word for prayer is tefilah. It is derived from the root Pe-Lamed-Lamed and the word l'hitpalel, meaning to judge oneself. This surprising word origin provides insight into the purpose of Jewish prayer. The most important part of any Jewish prayer, whether it be a prayer of petition, of thanksgiving, of praise of G-d, or of confession, is the introspection it provides, the moment that we spend looking inside ourselves, seeing our role in the universe and our relationship to G-d.

The Yiddish word meaning "pray" is "daven," which, with some disputation, ultimately comes from the same Latin root as the English word "divine" and emphasizes the One to whom prayer is directed.

Kavanah: The Mindset for Prayer

When you say the same prayers day after day, you might expect that the prayers would become routine and would begin to lose meaning. While this may be true for some people, this is not the intention of Jewish prayer. As I said at the beginning of this discussion, the most important part of prayer is the introspection it provides. Accordingly, the proper frame of mind is vital to prayer.

The mindset for prayer kavanah, which, as I have said, is generally translated as "concentration" or "intent." The minimum level of kavanah is that awareness that we must have when speaking to G-d and an intention to fulfill the obligation to pray. If you do not have this minimal level of kavanah, then you are not praying; you are merely reading. Now we see that in addition to fulfilling your obligation, it is preferred that you have a mind free from other thoughts, concerns, worries, designs and external ‘daily obligations, and that you know and understand what you are praying about and that you think about the meaning of the prayer.

Liturgical melodies are often used as an aid to forming the proper mindset. Many prayers and prayer services have traditional melodies associated with them and these can increase your focus on what you are doing and help you block out extraneous thoughts.

It is also useful to move while praying. Traditional Jews routinely sway back and forth during prayer, apparently a reference to Psalm 35, which says "All my limbs shall declare, 'O L-rd, who is like You?'" Such movement is not required, and many people find it distracting, but many others find that it helps them to concentrate and to focus.

Prayer should be done with the proper mindset,

kavanah

in Hebrew,

and with a group

(Minyan).

Today’s discussion comes from several sources as well as my own readings, ruminations and understandings. While I recognize and ‘tip my kippah’ to the many scholars and their contributions to Jewish thought over the many years; these comments are distilled into what I refer to as the JLCD - the Jewish Lowest Common Denominator; and is that which all Jews (“religious” or “observant”) would agree upon as the definition of, and the observance of, kavanah.

A Problem - A Conundrum

A Conundrum...

There are laws and rules regarding the use of all language(s) and how they are to be applied when they come into conflict with one another. Beyond that we Jews use what is claimed to be the language that created all of Creation - Hebrew, the Lashon HaKodesh; for it is said that HaShem brought the world into existence with the softest letter in the Hebrew Alef-Bet: Hey.

Now halakah tells us that when we pray - individually - we may pray in any language that we are fluent in using. With most of us that means the English language. For some of us who speak more that one language we might choose to use German, French, Tagalog or any language that we both read and speak. [therefore I cannot use Japanese as I do not read any of the written forms!]

But! And it is a big “but”... When we pray collectively, as a congregation of Jews, we are, halakaticlly, required to pray in Hebrew!

Now, notice, as an individual, praying in a minyan, we may use any language that we can read and speak (and write?). That means that if you were to go to a shul in a French-speaking part of Canada and picked up the siddur and found that it was printed in Hebrew and French; you have a problem [assuming for the discussion, that you do not know anything about the French language - except for those ‘naughty’ words that you learned in the school yard when you were 14 years old]. You can read the French letters - but you do not know or understand anything about the French language. What do you do? The answer, by Jewish law, is that you must use the Hebrew - even if you do not understand the words!

So let’s consider your situation now: you do know English (at least you got out of High School - so you are supposed to be able to construct a literate simple sentence) and you do not know French. What about Hebrew? This is were we find the conundrum - and this is the “grey area” in Judaism. We find that there are Jews who range from not knowing an Alef from a Tav to those who are completely fluent in both Biblical and Every-day Hebrew and hold advanced degrees in the many forms of the Hebrew language. For most Jews in America, we would probably find that they fall into an area closer to a basic reading skill - at best. And that would fulfill the Jewish law.

But does it?

The Baal Koreh - the one who reads from the Torah Scroll (without cantillation and vowel indications) - reads, or chants, the Torah Portion with as much comfort in his knowledge of the Hebrew as if it was his first language. Therefore... he is quit capable of reading/chanting with great speed. And this is even move evident when he reads the prayers that we read - at least - three times each week. It is sometimes referred to as “speed davening”. And this is another aspect to our conundrum.

The Code of Jewish Law stressed the importance of understanding the words that we pray. And, in fact, this the the basic reason that our Chazal (Scholars and Sages) left several of our prayers in the Vernacular - Aramaic. Because the people (of that time) understood and spoke Aramaic. And Chazal also understood that if we did not insist on using Hebrew, we would soon loose our connection and relationship with Torah. They were also knowledgeable enough to know that future generations would encounter environments like I mentioned about (you don’t know French so you cannot use the siddur printed in French) - but you can go anywhere in the world and the Hebrew will be the same! And as there are other reason from always using the Hebrew language - there is also reason to pray in Hebrew at-a-rate-of-speed-that-permits-comprehension!

Kavanah. It is important too that we allow time for Kavanah. To allow the “spirit” of the text to make itself known to us. After all, we read the same Torah year-after-year, but (hopefully) each year we glean something new and different. The Torah has not changed - we have. We have different knowledge. We have different needs and desires. We have different problems. And we gain different insights. IF WE ALLOW IT.

Reading from a prayer book does not mean that we are praying. You can read any book with either the intent to learn or to “finish” the assigned reading. And that applies to us in the classroom and in life - at the Minyan. We simply cannot “Twitter” the siddur or the Torah. We do not have “emotioncons” in Judaism. There is no shorthand method of connecting to HaShem.

But: Hey! You can read the siddur just to enjoy the Poetry and Prose used in the various translations. But that simply ain’t praying. For prayer must have intent. Prayer must have meaning. Even if you do not believe that there is a G-d... if you prayer ‘for-yourself’, it must - by definition - have meaning. As Rabbi Hayim Halevy Donin says (in his To Pray As A Jew) “Kavanah in prayer is the very antithesis of the mechanical and perfunctory reading of words.”

There are different levels of kavanah, and we will not and need not go into that at this time. But the Jewish Code of Law also states that if you cannot reach the minimum level of kavanah, you are forbidden to attempt prayer! Yes. If you do not reach the first step, if you cannot meet the first challenge - then you are not praying! The Shulkan Arukh tells us, as it heaves a great sigh, that “...one should not pray in a place where, or at such a time when, there is interference with kavanah.” And that we understand as being outside ‘distractions’. And we all certainly encounter that all to often. Internal distractions need to be considered and dwelt with in different manner.

Your own mood, anger, sorrow, problems - even excessive joy - can distract you from reaching the first level of kavanah and keep you from prayer. You can, and should, arrive early enough to Minyan to leave “the world” outside the doors and settle yourself into a comfort zone to daven with meaning and intention.

But, again, the Prayer Leader, needs to assist the Minyan in maintaining the primary level of kavanah and assist each individual in moving upward to the next level of kavanah. Yet, here too the world outside intrudes, and we feel the need to ‘finish-the-service‘ and have our coffee and bagel or move on to the next day’s events.

Here we too heave a great sigh and confront our conundrum. I wish I had an answer. For you. For Kol Israel. For myself. Perhaps that Japanese sage was correct; “Study. Study. Study. Only Study can bring a miracle.”

Sigh...

Maimonides LCD

The Final Principles and the Last of the Mohicans

Maimonides wrote; “Lest a person says: ‘Since jealousy, lust and desire for honor are evil ways... I will separate myself completely from them an go to the other extreme’, to the point where he refuses to enjoy the pleasure of food by abstaining from eating meat and drink wine, where he refuses to marry a wife, or to live in a pleasant house or to wear nice clothing... this too is a evil way and it is forbidden to go that way.” And he continues to caution us to ‘take the middle road’ and not to be extreme in either way.

HOWever when he spoke of taking a middle road - he did not mean that we should consider his Thirteen Principles and to discuss them hearing the traditional point of view and the modern/liberal point of view! His principles were developed, in his knowledgable and considered mind, as the LCD - the Lowest Common Denominator. Here, for Maimonides, there is no middle road.

So moving forward we will now move to his Eighth Principle (in as much as we took the time in the STSG to discuss those between #3 & #7 - I hope you will catch up).

x

Khet 8

I believe with perfect faith that the entire Torah that we now have is that which was given to Moses.

While we may never know exactly how the Torah was “given” to Moses. We don’t really know if it was ‘handed’ to him; dictated to him; or transmitted via his iPhone. It certainly was not by Twittering... But on the other hand we are told when it was given to Moses. Therefore, if we examine various Sefer Torah scrolls from New Zealand to Poland to China and to Alaska from antiquity to contemporary, we will find only STaM* scribal errors.

*Sefer Torahs and Mezuzot

Persons, who claim that Moses wrote some of the Torah himself, are considered a nonbeliever and displays a perverted understanding of our Torah. That said (by our Chazal), those who claim that the entire Torah was written by man at different times and in different places and can even be explained by the (apparent) different writing styles and syntax, must certainly belong to that group who pervert the entire Torah. There is the argument that those men who wrote the Torah did so by the insight of and with the blessing of G-d himself. But any careful study of the Torah - in depth - will reveal a unity and a compactness of Divine thought that is without human intervention for the complexities are beyond our comprehension.

There is within this one (#8) Principle, enough to consider and delve into with gusto, to take us into a week of study.... a month... a “semester”... a year... or longer. When I lived in Japan, I was introduced to an “Eastern” concept that applies here: “Study, Study, Study... only Study can make a miracle.” If we study this one Principle, we will certainly experience a miracle - of what size we will only find at the end.

This blog is not, however, the vehicle to drive to that miracle. And we continue with the following Principles. We sing Yigdal; G-d will not replace nor change His Law - For all time, for anything else. Thus: I believe with perfect faith that the Torah will not be changed, and that there will never be another Torah given by G-d.

Neither He nor any man can or will ever change His Torah. It is and it represents permanence. Nothing -NOthing can, or will, be added, or subtracted to either oral or written Torah. This is the Ninth Principle.

The Tenth Principle (y Yad) states: I believe with perfect faith that G-d knows all of man’s deeds and thoughts. It is thus written [in Psalm 33:15]; “He has molded every heart together, He understands what each one does.”

Those who would say that He has abandoned the world and mankind are in error as it is simply man’s foolishness and misunderstanding of the Master of the Universe. Those who say that He is still in the world but is unable to help, to keep evil from happening, to save those who are hurt or ill - that He is impotent - are, likewise, foolish as any careful reading of Genesis will certainly explain.

In number Eleven, ay, we find this. I believe with perfect faith that G-d rewards those who keep His commandments, and punishes those who transgress His commandments. And we say: “Why do bad things happen to good people? or: “Why does evil seem to win-out?” But what kind of reward or punishment are we talking about? And when, or where, will we receive it? Some will say that you will receive your reward after a wait in purgatory - unless you deserve an immediate one-way ticket to “hell”. And others that your murders and your own suicide will win you an immediate reward of a certain number of virgins. But is this Principle applying only to individuals? Or does it include tribes and nations - or all of mankind? Is a life eternal, a life that death does not take, a reward &/or punishment in itself? It has been put forth that “heaven” and “hell” are in the same “place”... for example, the rabbis who lived a good life are now sitting around a table enjoying the eternal study of the Torah and companionship with those of like-mind. While in the same room Mr. A. Hitler is seated - forever seeing those Jews, that he so hated, living in eternal bliss.

by The Twelfth Principle says: I believe with perfect faith in the coming of the Messiah. No matter how long it takes, I will await his coming day. (please note that “his coming” is written in lower case. Did Maimonides think in that way? Hebrew, of course, does not have upper and lower case forms) We do write the “Messiah” in caps in English - probably more by convention that by implication. Who, indeed, is the question, will S/He be? How will we know? And what will be the war of Gog and Magog? Are we now involved in that war?

And, finally, gy the Thirteenth Principle states: I believe with perfect faith that the dead will be brought back to life when G-d wills it to happen. [Yigdal: G-d will bring the dead to life with His great love, May His glorious name be blessed for all time.] Selah!

Moses, our greatest of prophets, tells us that this is one of the foundations of Judaism. One who does not believe what Moses has said on this Principle, cannot be associated with Judaism - its tribal implications, its history, its traditions or its religion. We are further instructed that “Rain is for both the wicked and for the righteous, but the resurrection (of the dead) is only for the righteous.” The wicked are considered to be dead - even as they are alive and walking the earth. It would be absurd, therefore, to return their bodies to life. Of course, if you do not believe this, it is probably fairly certain that you will not be returned to life. Is there some kind of poetic justice there?

b’Shalom

Regarding Last Week...

13

Principles

Last week we took a look at Maimonides’ Second Principle and that seemed to raise quite a few related and un-related questions and concerns. Now, considering that this was the Shabbos beginning a new reading of the Torah at tysarb (Genesis), let me first add a bit of doggerel for your contemplation:

“The earth was made in six days, and finished on the seventh.

According to the contract, it should have been the eleventh.

But the carpenter got sick and the mason wouldn’t work;

so the only way to finish it was to fill it up with dirt.”

___Anonymous

And what has that to do with our discussion(s)? Well, it seems that our Khakham began to consider HaShem (the Creator of all) in reference to what we now know - or think we know - about the universe, its beginning, where it’s going and how it all came about. So the first thing that I need to state is that in this “class” or “discussion group”, I am presenting the Traditional Jewish concepts and beliefs. It is important to understand that I am not presenting another religious concept, a scientific theory, a questioner’s point-of-view, or a Jewish view that is not historically held or is not “mainstream”. Therefore if someone brings to the discussion ideas, concepts or beliefs that differ we can certainly discuss this; as long as we realize that this is coming from a different point of view and that which is “unorthodox” (with a small “o”) and does not reflect the opinions of sages and rabbis over, say, the past 3500 years. If we take the position that the Torah-Tanakh-Bible was written for a people where were ‘ignorant‘ of the wonderful knowledge that we now have and can “Twitter” and share on Skype and Facebook; but was written to explain to people who did not even know that there was anything beyond the desert in which they lived - let alone that fact that the earth was round and but a speck in our own solar system, not even considering the greater universe - then we must become bogged down in semantics and never get to the core issues.

For our Shabbos Torah Study Group to progress we must argue and discuss - but we need to have a foundation for our discussions. That foundation - right or wrong - is the faith, the belief, that the Torah was written for all time. The TRADITIONAL Jewish concept is that it was ‘dictated‘ by HaShem to Moses and that he (alone) wrote it down. On that base we can then consider other opinions and concepts. To start a discussion without any base at all is a futile endeavor and is certainly not the basis for this Group. As the facilitator and agent provocateur, I will always make the opening presentation on the basis of the Traditional Established Jewish Belief System. Then we can progress.

And with that said, we can progress to review some more of Maimonides’ Principles - beginning with the Third Principle, which states:

Gimmel

Yigdal

He does not have bodily form. His not a body.

He is beyond compare in His Holiness.

Maimonides

I believe with perfect faith that G-d does not have a body. Physical concepts do not apply to Him. There is nothing whatsoever that resembles His at all.

Does anyone have a comment to make regarding how Maimonides begins each of these Principles: “I believe with perfect faith...”. It seems that there are at least three of those five words which would trigger discussions. No?

If Moses saw G-d (at least His back)... and G-d has nor physical form... what DID Moses see?

For those who are familiar with the Hebrew language syntax, you will have noticed that He is spoken of sometimes in the masculine and sometimes in the feminine genders - what does that mean if He has no body?

“The hand of G-d...” “written with His finger...” “ beneath His feet...” What - why do we use these terms?

Dalet

Yigdal

He preceded all things that were created,

He is first, yet without beginning.

Maimonides

I believe with perfect faith that G-d is first and last.

“The eternal G-d is a refuge.” Meaning what?

_from the Guide to the Perplexed:

Everything, other than HaShem Himself, was created by G-d out of absolute nothingness. In the beginning, G-d alone existed. There was nothing else... He created everything that exists from absolute nothingness...

As children of G-d [The G-d of Avraham, G-d of Isaac, and G-d of Jacob], we should ask the ‘childish’ question: Who created G-d?

And for the last consideration for today: When did time begin? Was that ever “no time”? How can that be?